About

Vincent van Gogh was not as he seems.

In 1888, at the age of 35, Vincent was looking to create something unique in art for the upcoming exhibition at the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. He found this uniqueness by way of murder. Over that summer, he created a persona to murder by, and he named it Jack the Ripper, revealing his name to London and to the world through letters to the police and newspapers. Acting on his fantasies and his threats, Vincent traveled to London and killed again and again as Jack the Ripper—reaping the power that came from murder and turning the blood he spilled into paint. He gained the uniqueness in art he was after.

But Vincent was a murderer long before he became Jack the Ripper. He made his first kill fifteen years earlier in 1873. He was 20 and ambitious and had been transferred to London from Holland in May by Goupil’s, the art dealer he worked for. It was believed he first lived in the Battersea area in the S.E. district. He then moved to nearby Brixton in August, and on September 5, just five days before his mother’s September 10 birthday, the body parts of an unidentified woman were found floating in the River Thames. The speculation was that the body parts were thrown in at Battersea. Vincent had moved and then had murdered.

Nine months later, in the midst of being rejected by his landlady's 19-year-old daughter, Vincent murdered again. This time, only the lower half of a woman's body was found in the Thames. Vincent had been rejected and then had murdered.

During the years that followed, Vincent gave up on being an art dealer to instead become a preacher like his father. But when that failed after several attempts, he turned to painting. His younger brother, Theo, then began to support him financially, which he would continue for ten years. Vincent moved back home to Holland but was thrown out by his father on Christmas day, due to his relentless arguing. Then in 1885, after Vincent had moved back home again, his preacher father was subsequently found dead one fine Sunday on the threshold of his home.

Because of the continued arguing with his father, Vincent’s sisters and others blamed him indirectly for their father's sudden and unexpected death. But the evidence shows Vincent was more directly responsible, and that, in fact, he had laid hands on his preacher father and had killed him. He was already an established serial killer, after all.

Vincent then moved to Paris in 1886 to live with Theo, but there was a problem. Theo had an ex-girlfriend living in his apartment who wouldn’t move out. She was referred to only as S. When Theo took a trip back to Holland and wrote to Vincent that either she moves out or he will, Vincent wrote back and offered to take S. off Theo’s hands, even suggesting he would marry her if necessary. During this same time Theo was away, the body parts of an unidentified woman were found deposited in street urinals in Paris. Vincent had solved the S. problem.

In 1887, Vincent then made a trip back to London from Paris for another murder, and just as with his first two murders in London, a woman's body parts were found floating in the Thames.

It was then in 1888 that Vincent moved to the South of France for something new in art for the upcoming World’s Fair in Paris, and he concluded it was murder that would give him the power he needed to create something unique. From August to December, Vincent made trips to London to murder seven women under the guise of his created persona, Jack the Ripper. He also killed another woman during this same time using his old method, making the total he killed in the year of the eights to be 8.

It was at the end of this flurry of murdering and painting that Vincent then cut off his ear in December of 1888. He was in and out of the hospital at the beginning of 1889 before being committed to an asylum at his own request. Being confined, he worked on the asylum director to obtain freedom to go out into the country to paint for several days at a time. Once he had obtained his freedom, he used it to travel back to London, and he killed three more women in 1889— one more acting as Jack the Ripper and two as what became known as the Torso Killer.

Vincent's final murder was his own. He shot himself in the stomach soon after he had moved back near Paris to be closer to Theo, and he died on July 29, 1890. Theo then lost his mind from grief and guilt and died six months later.

Vincent van Gogh was Jack the Ripper!

GAP IN THE RIPPER LETTERS MATCHES VAN GOGH’S EAR CUTSept. 24 to Dec. 23, 1888The first letter believed to be from Jack the Ripper arrived in London on September 24, 1888, and the next, on Sept. 27, provided the name of Jack the Ripper. In October, 84 Ripper letters were received in London, and in November, another 62. Then in December, 9 more were received before they abruptly stopped on Dec. 23.

Dec. 23, 1888 to Jan. 7, 1889Van Gogh cut his ear on the night of Dec. 23 and was admitted to the hospital early the next morning. He remained in the hospital until his release on Jan. 7.

Dec. 23, 1888 to Jan 8, 1889No Ripper letters were received from Dec. 23 to Jan 8. Prior to this 16 day gap, 5 days was the longest without receiving a Ripper letter.

No Ripper letters were received during this gap because the writer had cut off his ear and was in the hospital. He then sent one the day he was released on the 7th and it arrived on the 8th.

VAN GOGH MURDERED FOR HIS MOTHERFour London murder victims were discovered just before and on Vincent van Gogh’s mother’s birthday of September 10:

His first murder, a Torso kill, on Sept. 5, 1873.His third murder as Jack the Ripper on Sept. 8, 1888.Another murder the same night, but a Torso kill, on Sept. 8, 1888.His final murder as both the Torso Killer and as Jack the Ripper on Sept. 10, 1889.

For Vincent’s final murder, he committed a torso kill to match back to his first kill, cutting off his victim’s head and legs, but he deposited the woman’s body in Whitechapel and added a gash to her belly to match to the Ripper murders. He committed the murder a few days before but then placed the body for discovery on Sept. 10—his mother’s 70th birthday!

VAN GOGH CREATED THE JACK THE RIPPER NAMEIn a letter to his sister, Wilhelmina, in June 1888, two months before the first Jack the Ripper murder, Vincent wrote about how he looked in a recent self-portrait, noting his yellow straw hat was “like a hannekenmaaier’s.” The Dutch word hannekenmaaier was where Vincent revealed the beginnings of his new name without his sister knowing it. A footnote to this letter defined the word as: “‘Little Jack the Mower (or Reaper),’ seasonal laborer who in past centuries came to Holland from Western Germany as mowers or harvesters.”

Little Jack the Mower is only slightly interesting, but Little Jack the Reaper is enormously more interesting. Vincent van Gogh was referring to himself as Little Jack the Reaper. As he murdered over the months of 1888, he would refine the name until he got it just right, dropping the “Little” and adjusting “Reaper” to “Ripper” to match his use of the knife. Vincent van Gogh created Jack the Ripper.

I’m Dale Larner, the author of VINCENT ALIAS JACK, and I’ve created this Kickstarter project because I need help getting the book out to the world. I made use of many images and quotes to prove the case, and these require permissions, which are costly, so I’m in need of funding.

I chose Kickstarter because I like how a reward must be offered, and working with a book, this seems perfect. In effect, it allows those interested to pre-order the book while helping the author to publish—and so it is with VINCENT ALIAS JACK. Pledging $25 will get you the book as soon as it’s available, and as long as I meet the goal, I will receive the needed funds to pay for the permissions. And then I can finally get the book out there for everyone to see just how real it is.

If the concept of VINCENT ALIAS JACK is new to you, I can certainly understand if you think the claim of Vincent van Gogh being Jack the Ripper sounds a bit twisted. Some think it must be a work of fiction, others are sure it’s a work of insanity. But neither apply.

As everyone knows, truth can be stranger than fiction—and it would seem that solving the Jack the Ripper case exhibits just how strange truth can be. However, in reality, it only seems strange because Van Gogh is viewed as a famous figure. The image of Vincent roaming the foggy streets of London wielding a knife in search of a prostituted to kill while carrying his paints and brushes, makes for a ridiculous scene. Vincent would be easily recognized, after all, right? No. He would not. The first step in realizing the truth of the concept is to understand Vincent was not the least bit famous during his life. In fact, he was something of a nobody and dressed shabbily. He fit right in with the poor inhabitants of London’s East End. Lifting away the shroud of fame that covers Van Gogh reveals his true nature, and it becomes clear he was not as he seems.

I think it might also be helpful to know this is not a book dashed off in a hurry to make a quick buck. It has always been about getting the facts right and doing a thorough and honest job. After working on the book for a year, beginning in 2006, I determined I needed to give it my full attention, and I left my job in I.T. It then took another 2 years to complete the research, and yet another 2 ½ years to write it. Once the book was complete, it took 11 months and exactly 100 pitches to acquire an agent, and about the same time to lose the agent. The common response was disbelief—very few even gave the manuscript a look.

By then, I had exhausted my resources, and being unable to easily acquire a job after so long, I went broke. With the help of others, and eventually obtaining a job, I got back on my feet again. But, alas, the debt had risen too much, and I was forced to file for bankruptcy. Admittedly, this has been a long and difficult journey, but I’ve never lost confidence in what I discovered, or hope in getting the book out to the world. It has taken time to build things up again, and with that, my thoughts have turned back to the book. So here I am finding a way forward.

It did cross my mind to try again for a publisher, but that’s just too painful a thought. The past suggests it would simply be too much an exercise in futility. Conversely, though, during those past efforts, I was also attempting to find ways to get the story to break, and those efforts revealed a strong interest in the concept from the general public. And so, I’ve decided it’s best to go the self-publish route and get the book directly to readers.

Due to the large page size of the book, I’ve determined it’s best to divide the book into two. Both books will be a printed/paper version (e-book version later on), and I’m using CreateSpace to make the books available for purchase through Amazon in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., & throughout Europe.

Preliminary Cover for Book1

Both books are complete and edited, but I’m currently running through another edit to make it sparkle & shine. I’m also seeking to remove any resources I can to reduce the costs of permissions. There are also many other areas to perfect—such as the cover, formatting for CreateSpace & website updates and promotion options. I’m making good progress in these areas, and it will be down to just a matter of obtaining the funds for the permissions in order to take that final step of making Book1 available on Amazon. The plan is to get Book1 out in April. Then I’ll run a Kickstarter project for Book2, and within a couple of months have Book2 available.

You can be part of making this an exciting and successful adventure by spreading the news and sharing the Kickstarter link. Hope you will join in. Thanks!

Risks and challenges

There’s still much work to do. Besides the usual possibilities of disruption in one’s life, the main risk to this project not meeting the deadline would be due to not receiving back all the permissions in time. This is a possibility, but even if it occurs, it’s expected the delay would only be minimal.

I am excited to complete the work and send out copies of the book as soon as possible to those who support this project. I believe the evidence conclusively proves Vincent van Gogh was Jack the Ripper, so I’m more than eager to get the book out to the world. Hope you’ll be part of the adventure! Thanks!